Sorrow
by thefallfiles
Summary: Mulder and Scully take William to his first amusement park.


Scully was sitting down on a bench next to the nearest cotton candy machine, light amusement sparkling in her eyes as she watched Mulder and William wolf down their fair share of chilli cheese dogs and chocolate milkshakes.

A small smile danced across her lips at the site of the two of them enjoying themselves. Scully took a sip of her strawberry milkshake and shook her head. She'd warned them that eating that amount of food would result in painful stomach aches.

But like most days, they ignored her words of caution.

She knew they'd learn the hard way sooner rather than later.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Scully looked up from her milkshake and surveyed Mulder with a small smirk.

"Just thinking about how much you're going to enjoy the cool tiles of the bathroom floor a few hours from now."

The sun peeked over Mulder's shoulder and Scully lowered her sunglasses over her eyes and raised an eyebrow at his faux pout.

"Oh hardy ha ha." He deadpanned.

She grinned in response.

William sat beside Scully on the bench toying with his drink between his hands.

"So..." William began.

Uh _oh_

"When can we go on the speedster spinner?"

Scully hesitated, nerves gnawing at her stomach.

"Yeah Scully, when can we go on the speedster spinner?" Mulder smirked at her over the top of his drink.

She glared at him, her eyes staring daggers.

Mulder looks away pointedly, avoiding her death stare at all costs but the small smirk remained in it's place.

A tap of light fingers prodded her shoulder and she turned back towards her son.

"You _promised_ that we could go on after lunch." William pouted.

She hadn't promised him, _really_. She had said that she'd think about it, but he couldn't go on by himself and they both knew that.

Then again, she should of known better. Much like Mulder, he seems to only hear what he wants to hear sometimes.

Scully opened her mouth getting ready to explain a list of reasons why going on such a high speed roller coaster wasn't a good idea when Mulder helped her save face.

"As much as I am looking forward to getting motion sickness as the next guy, how about we check out the haunted house?" Mulder waggled his eyebrows, "Maybe we'll come across a benevolent entity."

Scully scoffed completely unsurprised by Mulder's change in topic. _Of course_ he would try to convince her of a previously non-discussed visit to the haunted house. And for good reason. Since the last time they were in a haunted house it didn't go all too well.

William's smile widened and he jumped up from the bench.

"Yes! Oh, yes! Please can we go? _Please_?"

Screwing the lid of the water bottle back on, Scully felt a surge of warmth spread throughout her chest at the site of her little boy jumping up and down, his cheeks flushed red in excitement.

Standing up Scully dug into her bag until she protruded a tube of zinc. William groaned out loud but took a few steps forward until he was within his mother's reaching distance.

Scully ran her thumb across William's nose and reapplied the lotion across his cheeks, green streaks sliding across perspiring skin.

A group of young boys and girls around the same age as William walked past and he went bright red, this time in embarrassment and he took a wide step backwards.

Mulder started to laugh but covered it up with a cough when Scully raised her eyebrow up at him and her mouth set into a straight line.

"Hey, how much of that do you have left?" Mulder asked, motioning to the tube in Scully's hand, "I want to look as _dashing_ as this young man." He pointed at William.

William rolled his eyes and raising his drink that he'd forgotten he had and took a long sip, his face scrunching up at the now luke-warm slightly bitter taste.

Mulder took a few steps closer until he was standing a breath away from Scully. She raised her chin, azure eyes sparkling.

Scully put the lid back on the zinc stick she had been holding between her fingers, Mulder's eyebrows scrunched together in slight confusion, after putting it back in her bag she rummaged around in the leather confines until she retrieved what she was looking for.

A perfectly sculpted brow raised in challenge as she held the stick between them.

"This one should work." She says.

Mulder smirked, taking another half-step forward so that he could reach blindly into her bag. After a few fumbled attempts he pulled out a similar stick between them, his fingers grazing the edge of her palm and her pinky finger.

"Well, it's only fair that you look as _dashing_ as the rest of us."

"Stop saying 'dashing'."

After about five minutes Scully had just finished applying pink zinc to Mulder's lips and they both stood back and began admiring their artwork on each others faces.

"I swear, Mulder. If you drew an exterrestrial on my face that painting is the only thing your fingers will be doing tonight." She threatens.

Mulder laughed and William's eyes widened in bewilderment, completely lost. _Thankfully._

"You seem to be missing a little..."

Mulder smeared more purple zinc, this time across her lips. Scully's tongue traced the movement before her face took on a pinched look at the bitter taste now coated on the tip of her tongue.

William let out a gagging sound which finally pulled the two of them out of their reverie.

Scully stepped away from Mulder and gently brushed William's ginger locks away from his eyes and smiled down at him.

"Let's go to the haunted house."

Mulder and William both did identical fist bumps as they all began to make their way towards the dark gothic looking mansion.

After a day filled with too much food that contained too much sugar it was steadily coming to an end.

Scully pressed a kiss to William's forehead to which his face scrunched up, but she could see the sparkle in his eyes that proved the faux expression and she felt a pang in her chest that threatened to intensify at every passing second.

She turned her gaze to Mulder who still had remnants of purple across his left cheek and felt the lightness of the day trickle out of her and a heaviness that twisted and pulled her stomach.

"Can you help William with his art project? We worked on the outline but he'll need help putting it together." She says.

Mulder nodded, his hand moving to clap their son's shoulder who was heavily invested in the book he was now reading.

"Sure. As long as it's not paper mache we should be good. Remember what happened last time?" He asks.

"No." She replies.

She does.

The sky stained pink like her lipstick marks across Mulder's skin and orange like the wine stain three days after she'd spilled it on the carpet in her hotel room after she'd left him.

She felt a lump form in her throat and she swallowed it back down, pushing down on the emotions that were threatening to seep from her.

But it was too late.

Scully looked down at the window sill where her tears mixed with mascara had betrayed her.

Her apartment was bare-bones, not having the motivation to put any touch of home to it other than the basics. Except for William's room.

She found herself in his room, which is where she spends most of her time when he's with Mulder.

Laying on his bed Scully looked up at the glow in the dark stars, her eyes mapping out Cassiopeia and Cepheus, the constellations on his ceiling that had taken her hours to get just right.

Feeling the exhaustion begin to set into the sinewy muscles of her arms and legs, her breathing began to slow, eyelids drooping. Scully succumbed to the only place she found serenity these days: in her sleep...where her dreams show her a picture perfect family. Her, Mulder and William together.


End file.
